2013-2014ANNUAL REPORT

OURSTORIES

a field journal

2013-2014ANNUAL REPORT

OURSTORIES

a field journal

CONTENTS

WELCOME

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STORIES

5

DONORS &FINANCIALS

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…is the only children’s museum in the nation that also includes

a school and research center. The Museum, Opal School, and

the Museum Center for Learning inform each other in dynamic

dialogue between informal, formal, and professional education.

Opal School offers rich learning experiences and environments

resulting from the practice of inquiry-based approaches through

the arts and sciences. The Center studies how children learn in

these environments, and helps to apply those approaches to

exhibits and programs in the Museum. The result is an integrated,

philosophically aligned approach based on playful inquiry—

where adults and children learn together both in and out of

school, and best practices are shared with educators worldwide

through publications, workshops, and symposiums.

Our integrated approach reached its most recent expression

with the opening of Outdoor Adventure in April 2014. For years,

Opal School had used the adjacent Hoyt Arboretum as an

outdoor classroom. The Center had studied how children interact

with and learn in nature. That research was applied to transform

1.3 acres of inaccessible land adjacent to the Museum into an

area that is neither park nor playground, but rather a carefully

designed nature learning environment for families with

children of all ages and abilities.

Portland Children’s Museum

We collaborate to create transformative learning experiences through the arts and sciences.

OUR MISSION

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“Write it down,” my mother would say if I wanted to remember something. Write it down. Draw a picture. Take a photo. Make a list.

Don’t forget.

Portland Children’s Museum hasn’t published an annual report in more than five years. Everyone felt that 2013-14 is a year we want to remember, with stories we just had to share. As an organization, we’ve been learning to become better storytellers, from the students in our Opal classrooms to the members around our board table.

One place we tell stories is during Rally. At 8:45 each morning, everyone working on the floor that day—and as many other staff members who can—gather at the front admissions desk. After we go around the circle for announcements, we ask for a story from the day before: about a child who had fun, a kind visitor compliment, a staff member who went above and beyond. The person with the best story gets to adjourn the group with a clap and the shout of “Break!” We’re sent off into the day armed with a story, reminded of the children and families at the heart of our work.

In the past year, we enjoyed 313,059 visitors in the Museum, learned alongside 125 students in Opal School, and hosted 200 educators (a record) in our Museum Center for Learning’s Symposium. That’s a lot of stories! We selected six favorites,and—yes, Mom—we wrote them down.

We hope you’ll be inspired, too.

Ruth G. ShellyExecutive Director

STORIES

4 months of record attendance

313,059 Portland Children’s Museum visitors

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OUTDOOR ADvENTURE

On Earth Day, the Museum opened a new 1.3-acre nature play space, Outdoor Adventure.

It just so happens that a woman and her son live in an apartment, and they don’t have a backyard. One day, they decide to get outside anyway. They go to Outdoor Adventure.

He sees children catching water in buckets when it surges out of the ground and carrying it to the sand pit. One pours the water and the other stirs the sand to build their mound higher. He asks, “Can I play too?” They dig in the sand and splash in the water. No one tells them how to do it because when children plan and follow through—when they don’t give up—they develop the parts of their brains that give them the tools to handle things as an adult.

He zigs and he zags down the steep switchbacks, and he risks climbing Zoom Tree all by himself to test his balance and strength against the ground and the tree. He learns where his body is in relation to the world around him—preparing his mind to do math, to read a map, and to understand an architectural plan.

Climbing down, he tells himself a story about the magical creatures who need shelter from the sun and the rain. He builds them a fort, getting his knees in the dirt to prop each limb over limb. He puts canvas over it all and crawls in to live awhile with his stories.

His mom calls out to call him home. Like so many moms before her.

Now our backyard is their backyard.

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OPAL ART FENCE

When you approach Opal Art Fence you’ll want to take a look around. Take in the view, certainly, but we also recommend that you squat and turn to see the fairy door just at the bottom of the tree shading the fence. The Opal students were the first ones to notice that door, and it was part of the inspiration to find a new perspective on the stories that live in Outdoor Adventure.

Our Exhibits team invited Opal students to collaborate with them to make a necessary barrier into a wonder-filled structure for Outdoor Adventure. Everyone began by thinking about what collaboration means. One student said, “It means connecting your ideas.” Another said, “Brains together, hearts together.” Then the work began to realize what those things mean. One student sums up the process:

“It was really hard because everyone kept saying no, then we did majority rules. That didn’t work because people were upset that they got voted out. Then we tried rock, paper, scissors. But then we just heard everyone and snapped our ideas together.”

They drew stories for us to read of flying dragons, an upside-down town that you can find underneath Outdoor Adventure, and a wise owl.

They showed that birds lived in Outdoor Adventure too, and helped the Museum get certified as a Gold Backyard Habitat by the Audubon Society. They helped James make the new homes high in the trees for bats and birds. One’s for that owl who perches in the fence. He keeps watch over the fairies who live next door.

The years Opal students spent learning in nature found its expression in Outdoor Adventure.

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bIg MISTER TWISTER

Patrick Dougherty leads Portlanders in weaving together natural materials to create a major art piece.When the Museum commissioned Patrick Dougherty to create an inaugural art installation in May, he shaped a series of structures from local willow and vine maple, dubbing it Big Mister Twister. But he didn’t do it alone. For 20 days, more than 50 volunteers wove together saplings and vines during two four-hour shifts per day. From their hands the artwork emerged.

One of the volunteers, Christine Bellows, doesn’t have a child and doesn’t work with children, so she’d never been to the Museum before. She came because she’s an artist, and she knew Dougherty’s work.

Over the weeks, she helped weave branches to form walls and archways. It put her in touch with her younger self: “I used to spend hours of my day playing in the forest and climbing trees. Helping to build Big Mister Twister was such a great way to be reminded of just how simple life can be because all we were doing was playing with tree branches.” Now her work inspires more imaginative play in Outdoor Adventure. The fanciful structure makes children wonder. If you listen, you can hear them talk about whether witches or elves live there before they run through the tilted doorways screaming with glee.

Our community-crafted art piece will serve as a play habitat for years to come. Now Museum visitors have the opportunity for a daily encounter with art as an intrinsic part of Outdoor Adventure. Plus, we’ve made some artist friends along the way. We look forward to seeing them around when our new Artists in Residence come to play too. (Thanks to the generosity of Arlene Schnitzer and The Collins Foundation, we have nine artists coming in the next three years!)

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Educators from around the world discover the connections between nature and early learning.

CENTER SYMPOSIUM

Being so near Hoyt Arboretum is ideal. Over the years it has become an essential setting for Opal’s curriculum of interdependence. Our reliance on each other and on nature inspired the Museum Center for Learning’s 2014 Symposium, “Nurturing Our Relationship to the Natural World.”

At this Symposium we reflected on the role of our environment in Reggio-inspired learning. Each place and practice is unique, but at Symposium we can draw inspiration from each other. We learn about the process of collaboration by doing it. We nurture community right where we find ourselves.

Sara Schulein Perets—founder of The Sunshine Shack—was in a concrete jungle in Los Angeles, in a building previously occupied by Hollywood Bail Bonds. Her preschool already had a story of transformation. But Sara was looking for a deeper change, and she shared her journey with us at Symposium 2014. During her first visit to Opal for a small workshop, she became inspired by what she saw as a “cultivation of humanity.” Opal became her model. When she got home, she put on her “busy hat” and got to work.

Her first step was to ask herself questions that didn’t have answers, like “Who am I? Who is my community? Who are we together?” She started having authentic dialogue with parents, teachers, and most importantly students. She strived to make everyone visible. In the process, her world transformed. With no nature in sight not only did children blossom, but parents did too. Everyone is more comfortable dwelling with the growing pains of change.

She discovered a whole community had put on their “busy hats” with her.

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A SPIN ON bIKES

Opal students begin by picking up the PVC pipe and fittings. They work together to reconstruct the whole idea of a bicycle, and they inspired our first purposefully Portland-centric exhibit, Cycle City.

One child and then another builds wheels with the PVC pipe, carefully choosing elbow joints to turn the straight lines into curved lines. But the wheels don’t act like wheels. They don’t spin. And that simply won’t do when you’re getting at the heart of a bicycle.

With wooden wheels in the next session, they moved further faster. When one child constructs a bicycle frame, the others build on the idea. As quickly as one child adds something, another removes it. Together they reveal how a bicycle in constant transformation still remains a bicycle. One says, “I have an idea! We don’t need the pedals. We can use our feet!” As the pieces fit or don’t, they reveal what is essential and what is extraneous.

Opal students’ playful inquiry inspired the many ways the bicycle was reimagined for the exhibit. As bikeportland.org put it, “Cycle City succeeds by presenting the bicycle as something far beyond its trite cultural perceptions as an eco-conscious vehicle or a tool used solely by ‘cyclists.’ Instead, visitors get a taste of the bicycle’s creative, social, industrial, scientific, and cultural possibilities.” Whether it’s art or engineering, collaboration takes center stage.

We find out that what is most essential is working together.

Cycle City: A Spin on Bikes was designed and built in-house to reflect our Portland community.

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COMMUNITY PARTNERS

If you are a refugee, your family history varies. I am seeking shelter from disaster. We are fleeing war. They are looking for asylum. I hurt. We hope. They live.

If you are a refugee served by the Immigrant & Refugee Community Organization, the Museum brings the clay to you. You come from one of eight different countries and you speak at least one of ten different languages. In the beginning, you wonder and you mold. By the end, you share the language of play.

One family from the Kayin State in Myanmar enters the community room. A Grandfather. A Grandmother. A Father. A Mother. An Uncle. An Aunt. A Child. A Cousin.

They all make sculptures out of clay. They make art together. They make art apart. They share.

First, they share the clay. Then, they share techniques. Finally, they share stories. The Uncle makes an elephant from memory. The Grandmother adds a man riding the elephant from memory. And the Cousin makes a snowman from memory. They gather all of the memories together on one tile and tell a tale that makes the Child laugh. The Child learns from her family, and the clay helps.

If you are a refugee, you go to Portland Children’s Museum. Your name is Muhammed Alabadi. Your daughter dances. Your daughter plays. You say, “My daughter enjoyed this night so much she did not want to go home.” The joy inspires her to learn, since when she is surprised, new pathways emerge in her mind.

Just so, new avenues open through play.

Last year Community Partners reached 43,025 people experiencing need.

DONORS &FINANCIALS

14 percent of these were

Family Access memberships

7,979 memberships

“I remember the day we opened Outdoor Adventure as one of great achievement, and I was in awe of what we built. It was seven years ago when we embarked on transforming Portland Children’s Museum with a new nature play space, and the opening was finally here. It was a time for us to celebrate with the many donors who made it all possible, and the bubbly was symbolic of great things to come!”

Shawn DuburgPortland Children’s Museum Board Chair, 2011-2014

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FY13-14 ANNUAL FUND CONTRIbUTIONS

$100,000+Arlene Schnitzer

$25,000−$99,000Fred W. Fields Fund of The Oregon Community FoundationMaybelle Clark Macdonald FundTarget

$10,000−$24,999Banfield Pet HospitalClark FoundationHenry Lea Hillman, Jr. FoundationJFR FoundationOCF Joseph E. Weston Public FoundationThe Paulson Family FundUnion Bank Foundation

$5,000−$9,999Bank of America Charitable Foundation, Inc.Hoover Family FoundationJubitz Family FoundationMetLife Foundation and Association of Children’s MuseumsNorthwest BankOregon Arts CommissionPGE FoundationRegional Arts & Culture CouncilUmpqua InvestmentsUnion Pacific FoundationDon & Marian VollumCatherine & David Willmott

$2,500−$4,999Bank of the CascadesThe Bloomfield Family FoundationKaren & Wei-Li ChongDavis Wright Tremaine LLPShawn & Jennifer DuBurgGary M. Anderson Children’s FoundationBill & Allyson HarrisAndrew W. Hassman

Benefit Auctions 360Elise BouneffAaron Burget & Jennie Day-BurgetCapital Pacific BankDawn & Fred ColerRobert Countryman & FamilyMichelle CowingDanielle CoxTom & Lisa DanielsAdolf Evans & Carolyn Johnson-EvansTom & JoAnna FlynnLarry FrankFred Meyer FundFelicia Tripp-Folsom & Jamaal FolsomThomas & Elizabeth GeweckeJudy GravesEmma GrayGun and Tom Denhart Family FundSusan HaasLinda Hassan AndersonBeth Hutchins & Peter SkeggsStacey KimTodd LindseyElizabeth & Roger LloydKimberly & Kim LuThe Mackay FamilyScott & Lisa MarshRick MayoKymberley & Stuart McCornackDebra MichelsonBernard & Susan MillerSheila Fox Morrison & Stephen MorrisonPop & PaintTroy & Kristi ReichleinEmily & Maxwell ReidJodi & Alexander SchoenenRuth & Kevin ShellyJamie & Denise ShulmanJeffrey & Bryn Marie SopkoLara Spangler & James GilmoreKris & Christina SummersKathy SwiftJill & Jason Trinchero

IN KIND4J’s Tree FarmAcademy TheaterAlaska AirlinesAmerican GirlArchery SummitBamboo SushiBendistillery

Jacqueline Rayot Olsson Charitable FoundationThe John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing ArtsAl & Nancy JubitzKinder Morgan FoundationPacific PowerRose E. Tucker Charitable TrustUnion Bank Matching GiftU.S. Bank/U.S. Bancorp FoundationWells Fargo Laura WiedenWillamette Week Give!Guide DonorsScott & Kathleen WilliamsXerox

$1,000−$2,499Barran Liebman LLPThe Boeing CompanyLarry & Christina ClarkeKristin CollinsDurham and Bates Insurance Brokers & AgentsRobert & Gwen ElfersJoe Francis & Jennifer WestRene GonzalezAshleigh & Mike GunterHutchins & Skeggs Family Fund of The Oregon Community FoundationID ExpertsJodi JordanJP Morgan ChaseLeotta Gordon FoundationMadison-Waldo Arts Fund of The Oregon Community FoundationMcMenamins Pubs and BreweriesDennis & Weise SpidalRob StackhouseThe Standard Matching GiftUnited Way of the Columbia-WillametteWoods Family Foundation

$250−$999ACME Business ConsultingScott Ambruster & Amy CantorJani Beatty

Bigfoot Outdoor Services, LLCCirca 33 BarDecarli Restaurant Double Mountain Brewery and TaproomEat Your Heart Out Catering and Culinary EventsEl Hispanic NewsElephants DelicatessenE-San Thai CuisineFamily Fun Center and Bullwinkle’s RestaurantFoxy Nails, LLCGarrett Downen PhotographyDag HeinrichsRebecca HubbsHot Lips PizzaHurley SurfInn at Northrup StationIsland Spirit KayakIwasaki Brothers Inc.John’s Incredible PizzaKevin KarrollKEENGary KirkKorkage Wine Bar & ShopLucky Spoon Frozen YogurtLumberyard Indoor Bike ParkThe Mackay FamilyScott MarshKymberley & Stuart McCornackMcMenamins Pubs and BreweriesMeticon BikesMiller Paint Co.Mt. Hood MeadowsMuseum of Contemporary CraftNew Deal DistilleryNext AdventureNinkasi BrewingOld Spaghetti Factory (OSF International)OMSIOregon State UniversityPGA TourPop & Paint¿Por Qué No? Portland Art MuseumPortland Center StagePortland State University AthleticsPortland TimbersPortland WinterhawksPoster GardenRobert QuesnelRiverPlace Hotel

THANK YOU

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Ruby JewelSalishan Spa & Golf ResortSalty’s Waterfront Seafood GrillsSanta Don DavisAuke-Jan & Stacey SerafinSerrattoJamie & Denise ShulmanShwoodSimpaticaSkutt Ceramic Products, Inc.Southwest Bicycle, LLCStagecraft Industries IncSundog EyewearTabor TavernThe Old GoldThe Oregon Gold ClubThe Picnic HouseThe Vineyard PlayhouseTigard Sand and GravelTimberlineVoicebox KaraokeDara WestingWhole FoodsWidmer BrothersNancy WileyWillamette WeekWonder BallroomWong’s King Seafood RestaurantWorld Affairs Council of OregonYakima Roof Rocks

OUTDOOR ADvENTURE CAPITAL CAMPAIgN

$100,000+The Collins FoundationMeyer Memorial TrustM.J. Murdock Charitable TrustThe Standard

$25,000−$99,000Cambia Health Foundation through The Regence Fund of The Oregon Community FoundationDuncan & Cindy Campbell through The Campbell FoundationKristin CollinsTruman CollinsAl & Nancy JubitzKnowledge UniverseMaybelle Clark Macdonald Fundmake it better foundation

Steve Brown & Kimberly A. CrouchMinnie & Mark CooperSue Dixon & Bob Candeloro*Geffen Mesher & Company, PCThomas & Elizabeth GeweckeThe Ingvaldsen FamilyJodi JordanJohn Karasaki & FamilyLEVER ArchitectureScott & Lisa MarshBarbara & Chris MillerSarah & Dave OrleansOutdoor Industry Association¿Por Qué No?Portland General Electric Matching GiftBryan PowellMelinda Rogers & Peter SeamanJamie & Denise Shulman*Jeffrey & Bryn Marie SopkoDennis & Weise SpidalJoani & Mike Wardwell

$250−$999Baker Rock ResourcesBenjamin & Kristen ErtischekEvoAndrew & Jessica FrazierMatthew & Carol HalseyChristopher & Kirsten KilchensteinThomas KuechGretchen LudwigDan & Liz Markel*Brendan & Melinda O’ScannlainJason & Shannon PorterMarie Selby & Tim JohnsonNicholas & Carolyn StanleyWork for Art

IN KINDAl’s Garden CenterBlooming NurseryCarlson TestingColumbia SportswearCornell FarmsDK & AssociatesEvans FarmsHennebery Eddy Architects, Inc.JE Dunn ConstructionKEENLinnea Ostenberg, PhotographerMayer/ReedThe Old Spaghetti Factory

James & Shirley RippeyThe Oregon Community FoundationDon & Marian VollumWieden+Kennedy

$10,000−$24,999Betsy Priddy Fund of The Oregon Community FoundationSteve Brook & Vanessa HughesKaren & Wei-Li ChongRobert Countryman & FamilyRoderick & Virginia CruickshankShawn & Jennifer DuBurgESCO FoundationSheila Fox Morrison & Stephen MorrisonZach & Amanda FritzBill & Allyson HarrisHarris Family FoundationIKEAThe Jackson FoundationJuan Young TrustTom Kelly & Barbara Woodford with Neil Kelly, Inc.Chad & Carrie Reese*Robert D. and Marcia H. Randall Charitable TrustRob Stackhouse*Union Bank Matching GiftWells FargoWells Fargo Advisors, LLC

$5,000−$9,999Scott F. & Glenda M. BurnsBurns Family Fund of The Oregon Community FoundationSarah MensahThomas Robinson & Pamela KislakWheeler Foundation

$2,500−$4,999Jani Beatty*City of Portland Environmental ServicesDavis Wright Tremaine LLPJoe Francis & Jennifer West*Ashleigh & Mike GunterMichael Phillips & Shannon ConnellyRuth, Kevin & Maggie Shelly*Felicia Tripp-Folsom & Jamaal Folsom

$1,000−$2,499Brian & Alisa Bendis*Melody, Mark & Max Bridges

Pacific PieParrish ExcavatingPip’s Original Doughnuts¿Por Qué No?Portland NurseryPortland Precision Manufacturing CompanyWestern States Fire Protection

*IN HONOR/MEMORY OFJani Beatty—In honor of Jack Rittenberg & Burke Michael BeattyThe Bendis Family—In loving memory of Rabbi Samuel Dov Berman & Ari BermanSue Dixon—In honor of Julia BleuJoe Francis & Jennifer West—In honor of Patrick John FrancisDan & Liz Markel—In memory of Joe BeckChad & Carrie Reese—In honor of Will & Tate ReeseRuth, Kevin & Maggie Shelly—In honor of Grandma & GrandpaThe Shulman Family—In honor of Jack ShulmanRob Stackhouse—In honor of Jocelyn & Carson Stackhouse

We are happily overwhelmed by the number of donors who have given gifts of $1−$249. We wish we had space to list them all. Please know we are grateful to everyone who has supported our mission in the past year.

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PROgRAM SERvICESSALARIES & bENEFITS

54%

9%

61%21%

10%

5%2%

1%

PROgRAM &ADMISSION FEES

MEMbERSHIPS

MERCHANDISESALES & CONCESSIONS

DONATIONS

EvENTSOTHER INCOME

SOURCES OFOPERATINg REvENUE

TOTAL REvENUE*$4,281,604

TOTAL EXPENSES*$4,207,065

A full 2013-14 audit is available at portlandcm.org/audit

*Totals include unrestricted, temporarily restricted, andcapital campaign revenue and expenses.

OPERATINg EXPENSES

6%

6%

7%

8%

3%3%

2%2%

MANAgEMENTSALARIES & bENEFITS

FUNDRAISINgSALARIES & bENEFITS

SUPPLIES &MATERIALS

COMMUNICATION

RENTALSTRAvEL & CONFERENCES

COST OF gOODS SOLD

PROFESSIONAL FEES

OTHER EXPENSES

bOARD OF DIRECTORS as of June 30, 2014

Shawn DuBurgChair

Karen ChongVice Chair

Ashleigh GunterSecretary

Rob StackhouseTreasurer

Tom FlynnOffice at Large

Jani Beatty

Joe Francis

Rene Gonzalez

Jodi Jordan

Scott Marsh

Jason Porter

Jamie Shulman

Felicia Tripp-Folsom

Kirsten KilchensteinOpal Advisory Council Representative

4015 SW Canyon Road, Portland, OR 97221

portlandcm.org/annualreport • 503.223.6500